Articles

“We went out to tender with three other companies and Action Planning came in significantly cheaper than a couple of them and slightly below the other. Cost is big thing to us. We have a fairly longstanding relationship with Action Planning and we would use them again for recruitment.”

Vince Bick, Chair, Care Ashore​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Background

Care Ashore serves all seafarers, fishermen and their dependents in need, by providing sheltered housing with support and holiday accommodation on its extensive Springbok Estate in rural Surrey. The charity also manages a number of commercial activities, including property rental, farm rental, camping and caravanning, fishing, clay pigeon shooting and guest rooms, to generate income to subsidise the cost of services offered to seafarers, and to support capital projects on site. In 2020 we carried out a root and branch review of the charity, resulting in a rebuilding of the Board and the appointment of a new Chief Executive. Four years on, the CEO role was vacant again.

Inbetween we had provided an Interim CEO for 10 months. David Harvey, an Action Planning Associate with extensive CEO experience, was proposed by David Saint to “hold the fort” while a new recruit was found to fill the role permanently. For four weeks during that period, David Harvey went on a planned trip to New Zealand, so David Saint stepped in as interim Interim CEO, giving Care Ashore full continuity of service.

Brief

We were asked to deliver our signature end-to-end recruitment service to fill the Chief Executive vacancy with someone able to bring the skills and experience, some of which were quite niche, to take the charity into its next chapter.

Process

Having recruited a Chief Executive for Care Ashore in 2020, and provided two interim CEOs, we were familiar with the requirements for this role. We appointed Sara Ginn to lead on delivering the next appointment.

Sara began the process with a briefing meeting with the then Interim CEO David Harvey and Chair Vince Bick, in which she was able to ask key questions and really get to the nub of what the role required. What they needed was a leader with fantastic business acumen but ultimately driven by a charity heart; someone who was able to see both the practicalities and potential of the vast physical estate and physical assets, but also was able to connect with the people and beneficiaries that the charity serves.

Sara encapsulated these ingredients in a thorough and inviting candidate pack and advert, which would appeal to both the business-minded candidate and the candidate who had that heart. The campaign attracted nearly 50 applications, from whom Sara submitted 12 candidates to the panel for review. From these, six were invited to interview – a high number of suitable candidates for a role.

Those candidates were invited to attend a tour of the Care Ashore estate, followed by a face-to-face interview and a well-designed feedback presentation task, which allowed each candidate to express their views on the potential of Care Ashore and how they felt they would be able to drive the charity forward. “I expected at least two to drop out at that stage because it is quite a big and daunting job,” said Vince. “We were quite surprised when only the one dropped out.”

Outcome

Five candidates were selected for interview, all of whom impressed the panel, but one stood out. “Of the other four, one would have been employable in the circumstances we had at the time, and two would have been good caretakers,” said Vince.

The outstanding candidate was offered the role and he started on 1st August 2024. 

Consultant’s insight

We set great store by taking the time to fully understand the needs for any vacant position, and it was very helpful having David and Vince to provide me with their insights from the start. As a result I was able to design a candidate pack and job advert that really captured the essence of what Care Ashore was looking for, which in turn meant that a large number of the candidates who came forward were well suited to the role. I've been in recruitment nearly 16 years and this was a fairly unprecedented number of suitable candidates to come forward. Typically around 5% meet the criteria for shortlisting but in this case the proportion was much higher. This in turn made it an extremely competitive process, even though the successful candidate stood out above the rest.